Dr Samuel Furphy
Areas of expertise
- Biography 210304
- Australian History (Excl. Aboriginal And Torres Strait Islander History) 210303
- Aboriginal And Torres Strait Islander History 210301
Biography
Sam Furphy is a historian based in the National Centre of Biography, School of History, with expertise in Australian colonial history, Aboriginal history, British imperial history, and biography. He works as a research editor for the Australian Dictionary of Biography and was a recipient (2014-17) of an Australian Research Council early career fellowship. His recent research has focussed on Indigenous Australian experiences of the home front during the world wars, and Aboriginal protectors in early colonial Australasia. He was the convenor of the 2018 Australian Historical Association Conference.
Sam is the author of Edward M. Curr and the Tide of History (2013), a biography of a pastoralist, stock inspector, memoirist and ethnologist, whose writings were influential in the Yorta Yorta native title case (1994-2001). He has edited or co-edited three books, most recently Aboriginal Protection and Its Intermediaries in Britain’s Antipodean Colonies (with Amanda Nettelbeck, 2019). Before joining the National Centre of Biography, he worked as a professional historian, writing several commissioned histories including Australian of the Year Awards: A Fiftieth Anniversary History (2010).
Researcher's projects
"A Due Observance of Justice? Protectors of Aborigines in Britain’s Australasian Colonies, 1837-1857" (ARC DECRA grant, 2014-17)
"Serving Our Country: A History of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People in the Defence of Australia" (ARC Linkage grant, 2013-17)
Current student projects
Tess Gardner (PhD, supervisor) – Australians Journalist-Advisers in Republican China, 1897-1942
Mina Murray (PhD, supervisor) – Age of the Barri-ma: Tactics of Wiradjuri Warriors pre-1788-1850
Matthew Wrigley (PhD, associate supervisor) – Contact History of the Eastern Goldfields, Western Australia 1846-1900
Past student projects
Arnold Ellem (PhD, chair of panel) – A Changing Pattern in Lines: the introduction of barcode technologies into Australia, 1965-1980
Patricia Downes (PhD, advisor) – The Character and Influence of the Military Convicts Transported to Australia 1788-1868
Jacqui Donegan (PhD, advisor) – The Confectionary Kings: Robertson, Allen and Hoadley A collective biography, 1887-1967
Paul Irish (PhD, advisor) – Hidden in Plain View: Aboriginal historical places and people in Sydney
Georgia Appleby (Honours, supervisor) – Answering the Call: Aboriginal Military Service during World War II and the Fight for Civil Rights
Publications
- Furphy, S & Nettelbeck, A 2019, 'Imagining Protection in the Antipodean Colonies: Actors, Agency and Governance', in Samuel Furphy and Amanda Nettelbeck (eds.), Aboriginal Protection and its Intermediaries in Britain's Antipodean Colonies, Routledge Taylor & Francis Group, United Kingdom, pp. 3pp-19pp.
- Furphy, S 2019, 'Philanthropy or Patronage? Aboriginal Protectors in the Port Phillip District and Western Australia', in Samuel Furphy and Amanda Nettelbeck (ed.), Aboriginal Protection and its Intermediaries in Britain's Antipodean Colonies, Routledge Taylor & Francis Group, United Kingdom, pp. 58pp-76pp.
- Furphy, S 2018, 'The Home Front in the First World War', in Joan Beaumont and Allison Cadzow (ed.), Serving Our Country: Indigenous Australians, War, Defence and Citizenship, NewSouth Publishing, Sydney, pp. 94-112.
- Furphy, S 2018, 'The Second World War Home Front', in Joan Beaumont and Allison Cadzow (ed.), Serving Our Country: Indigenous Australians, War, Defence and Citizenship, NewSouth Publishing, Sydney, pp. 176-195.
- Fox, K & Furphy, S 2017, 'The Politics of National Recognition: Honouring Australians in a Post-Imperial World', Australian Journal of Politics and History, vol. 63, no. 1, pp. 93-111.
- Furphy, S 2017, 'Aboriginal Australians and the Home Front', in Kate Ariotti and James E Bennett (ed.), Australians and the First World War: Local-Global Connections and Contexts, Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 143-164.
- Furphy, S 2017, 'Waters, Leonard Victor (Len) (1924-1993)', Australian Dictionary of Biography (Online), http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/waters-leonard-victor-len-24662
- Furphy, S 2016, ''The most trustworthy writers on our Blacks':Edward M. Curr's Critique of Armchair Anthropology', Oceania, vol. 86, no. 3, pp. 262-277.
- Furphy, S 2015, '"They formed a little family as it were": The Board for the Protection of Aborigines, 1875-1883', in Leigh Boucher and Lynette Russell (eds.), Settler Colonial Governance in Nineteenth-Century Victoria, ANU Press, Canberrra, pp. 95-116.
- Furphy, S, ed., 2015, The Seven Dwarfs and the Age of the Mandarins: Australian Government Administration in the Post-War Reconstruction Era, ANU Press, Canberra.
- Furphy, S 2013, Edward M. Curr and the Tide of History, ANU Press, Canberra.
- Furphy, S 2013, 'The Trial of Warri: Aboriginal Protection and Settler Self Government in Colonial Victoria', Journal of Australian Colonial History, vol. 15, pp. 63-82.
- Furphy, S 2012, 'Punshon, Ethel May (1882-1989),' in Australian Dictionary of Biography, vol 18, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/punshon-ethel-may-monte-15788
- Furphy, S 2012, 'Roulston, James Francis (1922-1982)', in Australian Dictionary of Biography, vol 18, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/roulston-james-francis-jim-15762
- Furphy, S 2010, Australian of the Year Awards: a Fiftieth Anniversary History, National Australia Day Council, Parkes, A.C.T.
- Furphy, S 2010, '"Our Civilisation Has Rolled Over Thee": Edward M Curr and the Yorta Yorta Native Title Case', History Australia, vol. 7, no. 3, pp. 54.1-54.16.
- Furphy, S 2007, Dimmeys of Richmond: The rise and fall of a family business, Hyland House Publishing, Flemington, VIC.
- Furphy, S 2006, Alec Prentice Sewell (1909-2003): Author and Philanthropist, Ian Potter Foundation, Melbourne.
- Edmonds, P & Furphy, S, eds, 2006, Rethinking Colonial Histories: New and Alternative Approaches, RMIT Publishing, Melbourne.
- Furphy, S 2006, 'Edward Micklethwaite Curr's Recollections of Squatting: Biography, History and Native Title', in Edmonds, P and Furphy, S (eds.), Rethinking Colonial Histories: new and alternative approaches, RMIT Publishing, Melbourne, pp. 33-48.
- Furphy, S 2005, Selbys the Science People: A History of H.B. Selby Australia Limited, Australian Scholarly Publishing, Melbourne.
- Furphy, S 2002, 'Aboriginal House Names and Settler Australian Identity', Journal of Australian Studies, vol. 72, pp. 59-68.
- Furphy, S 2002, 'British Surveyors and Aboriginal Place Names: New South Wales and Port Phillip, 1828-1851' in Tracey Banivanua Mar and Julie Evans (eds), Writing Colonial Histories: Comparative Perspectives, R.M.I.T. Publishing, Melbourne, pp. 23-38.
- Furphy, S 2001, 'Aboriginal Place Names and Settler Australian Identity', Melbourne Historical Journal, vol. 29, pp. 71-8.